


Rhythm of the Night

by prompt_fills



Category: Formula 1 RPF
Genre: Angst, M/M, Pre-Slash, Supernatural Elements, Suspense, Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-16
Updated: 2016-08-16
Packaged: 2018-08-08 07:39:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7749028
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/prompt_fills/pseuds/prompt_fills
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nico wakes up with a jolt.</p><p>A hand is pressed to his mouth to stifle his startled cry, someone’s heavy weight is holding his body down and Nico’s arms are pinned above his head before he even has a chance to react to the assault.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rhythm of the Night

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ohnojamie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohnojamie/gifts).



Nico wakes up with a jolt.

A hand is pressed to his mouth to stifle his startled cry, someone’s heavy weight is holding his body down and Nico’s arms are pinned above his head before he even has a chance to react to the assault.

Nico’s eyes blindly search the darkness in front of him. He tosses from side to side to dislodge his attacker but to no avail. He lets out a muffled moan.

“Shh,” comes an urgent whisper, “Nico, calm down, it’s just me.”

Nico’s heart is beating faster than before a start but he recognises the voice. He stops trying to knee his tormentor in the stomach. “Lewis?”

“Yeah, it’s me. You awake now? Good. Keep quiet and get up.”

Lewis slides off him, letting Nico sit up on his bed and blink owlishly at the darkened room. Lewis’ silhouette looms over the bed. Nico makes to switch the lights on but Lewis captures his hand in a vice-like grip.

“Don’t you dare,” he hisses.

Nico lets his hand fall to his side. “Erm, Lewis, what are you doing here?” Nico’s brain is still sleep fuzzy. His English is heavily accented. Stringing along a simple sentence requires a lot of effort this early into the morning. God, the sun isn’t even up yet.

“We need to get you out. Grab some things,” Lewis throws a holdall to the floor. “Money, passport, some warm clothes and shit. Make it quick.” There is an urgency in his voice Nico doesn’t like. “And for fuck’s sake,” Lewis adds, “keep quiet.”

“Then tell me what the hell is going on.” Nico swings his legs over the edge of the bed, reaches to the chair for his jeans and pulls them on.

Lewis moves the window of Nico’s hotel room, cautiously peering outside through the blinds. “I can’t explain now.”

Nico has finished getting dressed but he makes no move to start packing. His eyes adjust to the half-light and he regards the holdall with an annoyed glare.

“Nico – if we were ever friends, get a move on.”

Nico wavers. “If this is one of your pranks…”

“I swear it’s not. Hurry the fuck up.”

When Nico doesn’t scramble to get his things, Lewis grabs Nico’s wallet, his ID and his phone, and throws them into the bag together with some of Nico’s clothing. Nico watches as Lewis struggles to zips the holdall up. Some of Lewis’ things are already stuffed inside. A lot of weird boxes, some notes – probably telemetry data – and dog treats.

“That will have to do, we don’t have time,” Lewis decides, picking the bag up from the floor, grabbing Nico’s elbow and manoeuvring him to the balcony.

“Jesus, is this how you got in?” Nico has no choice but to follow Lewis outside. He peers down into the darkened street bellow them, incredulous.

“No,” Lewis says, hauling the holdall over his shoulder and climbing onto the railing with a shocking swiftness, “they’ve got the ground covered. We have to go up.”

Nico wonders if Lewis has gone crazy. He sure as hell isn’t following Lewis if his teammate decided to be suicidal.

“Oh, c’mon, it’s not as hard as it looks, I promise. There just isn’t room for any mistakes. You can do that, can’t you?”

Nico crosses his arms and ignores the jab. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”

Lewis throws his head back and glares up at the night sky. “I really wish I could explain this better but there is no time. Let’s get out of here and I’ll try to tell you as much as I can as we go, okay?”

Nico wonders what is the correct approach to someone who’s gone insane. You shouldn’t put up resistance, right? But you should make sure they don’t get hurt. Nico puts his hand on the railing. “Lewis, come down and we can ta–”

Nice doesn’t finish his sentence because at that same exact moment, a loud howl pierces the night.

“Jesus fucking Christ,” Lewis curses quietly, seizing Nico’s hand and forcing him upwards with enough force to nearly wrench Nico’s shoulder out of its socket. “Let’s _go_!”

Nico already has his leg on the railing, Lewis helping him keep his balance, when another howl comes. It’s long and low and sounds much closer to them than the first one. Nico can’t help the shiver that runs down his spine at the sinister sound. There is a quality to the howl that makes his hair stand on end.

Climbing onto the balcony above them, Lewis doesn’t seem affected. “We’re sitting ducks here, Nico, trust me. Speed it up.”

Nico stands on his tiptoes on the thin line to reach Lewis’ hand. He lets himself be pulled up and grasps at the iron railing of the balcony above him once his hand gets close enough for a good grip.

“Good. Good, you’re doing great,” Lewis praises, adjusting the strap of his bag as it threatens to slide off his shoulder.

Nico climbs up.

“See? Piece of cake. Only eight more to go.”

They manage to get on the rooftop, Lewis navigating their way with ease, instructing Nico in a quiet tone where to put his hands and legs for a good leverage.

They reach the top of the hotel.

Nico staggers away from the edge while Lewis stays perched where he has a good view of the city around them.

“So,” Nico says, “start talking.”

“Not now,” Lewis snaps. “Don’t you get it? We need to get away – and fast. We don’t have time for your chit-chat.”

Affronted, Nico falls silent and watches Lewis as he picks up a small black device from his pocket, not unlike a phone. Lewis frowns at whatever the display says.

Nico bites his tongue and doesn’t ask about it.

Lewis hops down next to Nico, landing softly. “There is a safe place about seven blocks away,” he volunteers.

Nico doesn’t object, just stands up and follows Lewis’ lead.

Getting through the first block is easy, it’s like the roofs were made for this. Lewis seems pretty at ease up so high, tearing effortlessly past new and new roofs, fire escapes and balconies.

The night air is crisp and dark, except for the shine of streetlights from below them.

Nico’s heart is beating fast again, the addictive flush of adrenalin in his veins makes him feel alive.

They cover another block. This one is a bit more of a challenge because the buildings aren’t spaced so evenly and differ in height. Lewis gives Nico a hands up whenever they reach a difficult place.

Just as they are about to scale up a tall brick wall dividing one roof from another, a deep and guttural growl freezes Nico’s blood chill.

Lewis tenses as well, eyes tracking the long shadows in the street. He fishes out that small black device only to pocked it again only a few seconds later, a frown on his face.

“What–” Nico starts to ask but his whispered question is drowned out by another howl.

This one is long and powerful enough to draw the attention of the other creatures and they join in, one by one until Nico can no longer tell how many howls he’s hearing. They all melt into one creepy cadence, raising and falling like an unstoppable wave.

It goes on for long minutes. Nico would stand rooted to the spot but Lewis is tugging at his arm, forcing him to keep moving.

“A change of plans,” Lewis says grimly. “We can’t go through the next crossing. We need to go down.”

“Down?” Nico repeats. “But it’s – it’s out there on the streets.”

“That’s why we need to make it to the sewers.”

Nico groans.

The sewers smell something awful and there is hardly any light. Lewis strictly forbids any talking because their voices would echo in the empty tunnels and give away their position.

Nico feels the sickening smell sticking to his skin and hair. The vile air is getting sucked into his lungs and he has to carefully watch his footing if he doesn’t want to fall in for an unwanted bath. It’s worse than the careful rooftop climb they did earlier and it sure as hell isn’t as exciting.

The torture comes to an end when Lewis stops and points at a manhole cover above them that is letting in some of the streetlight.

Once they emerge, Lewis barely gives him enough time to take in a few deep breaths of the much fresher air, and then he is pulling Nico through a gate between two buildings and up a narrow alley. “We’re nearly there,” Lewis says, a small smile tugging his lips upwards.

The other end of said alley is also guarded by a gate but this one is firmly locked and doesn’t give in even when Lewis pushes against it forcefully. Lewis rummages through his holdall before giving it to Nico to hold and goes to pick the lock.

Nico is eyeing the way they came from, about to suggest they go back and find an alternative path. That’s why he sees the creature first.

“L-Lewis?” Nico isn’t proud of the way his voice breaks.

The creature standing still at the end of the alley is gigantic.

“What?”

“It’s here,” Nico forces out.

“What?” Lewis repeats.

Nico tries to find a label for the thing and he watches as the dark threatening shadow lurches forward. “Lewis!” Nico cries out, startled.

Lewis turns, curses, then Nico catches a glimpse of something silvery as it swishes past him towards the creature – and with a pained yowl, the creature flinches. Three more flashes of something metallic flying through the air and the creature goes down.

Lewis quickly moves forward, holding a knife to… to finish the creature off, Nico realizes and his yesterday’s dinner threatens to make a reappearance.

“Was it a person?” He squeaks. “A werewolf? Did you just kill someone?!”

Lewis chuckles nervously. “Don’t be daft, Nico.”

“Ohmygod,” Nico says. “Ohmygod.”

Lewis pokes at the prone creature’s paw with the tip of his shoe. When he concludes that it won’t be getting up anytime soon, he gets out a syringe and takes a sample of the creature’s blood with quick, effective movements.

Nico doesn’t have time to panic because another creature steps into the alley and before Lewis could react, it notifies the other with a series of piercing howls.

“Shit!” Lewis swears loudly, no longer keeping his voice down. “Nico!”

The claws make audible patter against the pavement as the creature approaches.

Nico is shoved forward, none too gently.

“Climb the goddamn wall!” Lewis barks.

They scale the wall nearest to them, relying on window ledges and missing bricks until they reach a fire escape. Lewis isn’t waiting for anything, nor is he looking back. He drags Nico along in the mad run they make.

Nico is trembling so badly that they have to stop on the next roof. Lewis appears to be more apologetic than freaked out. He steps close to Nico and engulfs him in a hug.

Nico tenses, arms trapped by his sides, fingers shaking.

“It’s all right, It’s all right,” Lewis mutters softly into Nico’s hair, stroking his back. His hand is very warm in the cold night air. “We’re almost there. You’ve been doing great.”

“How far?” Nico croaks.

“Three minutes tops,” Lewis says as he steps back. “We’re near the ports. We need to get there before the whole pack is on us. Come on.”

Mustering all his strength to go on, Nico trails after Lewis. This whole nightmare is getting way too exciting.

They get down from the roofs not even two minutes after. Lewis leads them through an abandoned cannery that still smells of fish. Or maybe it’s the port.

Once they’re inside, Lewis gets out a flashlight, probably more for Nico’s benefit. He sure seems to be navigating the halls with an unnerving familiarity.

Then they go down into the basement and stop in front of a heavy looking iron door that must lead further underground.

Seven raps at the door, two short, one long, two short, two long. The door swings open.

“Oh thank God you’ve made it,” Susie breathes out. “I was so worried Lewis won’t get to you in time.” She pulls Nico into a fierce hug, causing Nico to stumble through the door. Lewis follows after them, amused expression on his face.

Toto grips Lewis’ shoulder firmly. “Thank you,” he says. “They didn’t tail you here, right?”

Out of the corner of his eye, Nico sees Lewis shake his head.

“Oh Lewis,” Susie gasps, twisting in Nico’s arms and reaching to pull Lewis into the hug as well. 

Once again, Nico can feel the touch of Lewis’ warm hand on the small of his back as the man tries to keep upright, squished between him and Susie.

“Let them breathe, woman, let them breathe,” Toto says. When the trio parts, Toto’s eyes bore into Nico’s. “So, we didn’t plan on telling you.”

“Uh, okay?” Nico says.

“We should give you the tour and explain a few things since you’re already here, though.”

Without a word, Nico follows his boss through the narrow corridor.

Toto marches first, gesturing to left and right as they pass. The cleaning room, the bathrooms, the armoury. They make a stop in front of the last door at the end of the corridor. “And this is where you can find me most of the time.”

Nico is lead through the door into a small office. There is a table with two chairs, a small bed in the corner, a basin and a sturdy looking filing cabinet.

Over the bed is thrown an enormous hide. It’s a skin of a wolf.

Toto’s smile reveals a row of white teeth when he catches Nico’s expression. “How do you think my clan earned our name? We hunt them.”

“Oh,” Nico breathes out. “I didn’t realize.”

“Took me by surprise when I first heard, too,” Lewis says behind him, the low murmur of his voice startling Nico who didn’t notice Lewis creep closer.

“You!” Nico swivels around and jabs a finger into Lewis’ chest. “Since when did you know?”

“Since Malaysia.”

“Lewis!” Toto huffs, displeased with the answer.

Lewis smiles broadly, giving them a little shrug. “Or was it China?”

“It was China,” Toto confirms, then turns to Nico to add, “2009.”

Nico’s mind is reeling. “You’ve been… hunting these things ever since?” he asks, bemused.

“Oh dear god, no,” Lewis huffs.

Susie pokes her head into the room to explain. “We gained the permission just last season when the project went awry, mutating the genes of the subjects and turning them because the monomer bound to their purines instead of cur–”

“You’re scaring the boy, honey,” Toto says, smiling fondly and leaning in to give his wife a brief kiss to her hair.

She smiles sheepishly, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear. “Oh. Sorry. It’s just still very fascinating.”

“Yes, yes it is,” Nico says slowly, glancing around the people in the room. It feels like he hasn’t gotten to know them before. He smiles. “Thank you for having me.”

“Nico,” Susie sighs but when she doesn’t go on, Toto takes over.

“Don’t thank us. They were specifically targeting you. I believe that’s my mistake. I didn’t realize you might be on their radar.”

“An awful neglecting on our part,” Susie admits. “We thought last year we got them all before we left Montréal. Turns out we didn’t.”

Lewis nods. “There is still a pack of weres northwest of the city.”

“They would come all the way here just to fuck with you?” Nico asks, his tone sceptic.

“They can roam from here up to James Bay, you idiot. They’re not your average wolf,” Lewis informs him.

“Oh.”

“And they never forget,” Toto hisses through his teeth. “This is their revenge for me leading the attack that eliminated many of them last year. They targeted what they consider to be my pack. That’s why we holed up in here.”

“We didn’t hole up,” Susie protests. “We’re just trying to come up with a plan.”

“We better think faster because we’re supposed to be dealing with that chupacabra infestation in Temoaya by next Wednesday.”

There is an uneasy silence until Lewis breaks it by reaching into his pocket and producing a small vial with a blood sample from the creature.

“Got you a little something,” Lewis says, handing the blood to Susie.

“Oh! Brilliant! I’ll get the guys to have a look at it. Is it male or female?”

“Uhm,” Lewis says.

“Ah, never mind. We’ll find out soon enough,” Susie waves her hand, disappearing in the corridor. “Glad you’re okay. Both of you!” She calls over her shoulder.

Toto clears his throat. “Okay. So, Lewis why don’t you show Nico to your room. I’ll be in my office if you need me.” 

“How huge is this place anyway?” Nico asks Lewis once Toto is safely left behind.

“I don’t know. They’ve never given me a tour. But let’s take a proper look at the armoury. Down the hall and to the left. You’ll like it.”

Nico likes it. A lot.

There are some other people in the room, pottering around, testing, practising, maintaining the guns and sharpening the knives. Nico observes it all with keen eyes.

“Why did they never tell me about this?”

Lewis shrugs, unable to answer. He waves his hand to the display of weapons lined along the wall and the targets that stand across the room. “Uh, they’re telling you now?”

“Yeah. That’s really comforting.” Nico picks up the crossbow nearest to him, weighting it in his hand before gripping it properly and rising it up. The arrow flies in a straight line when he releases it, makes a faint _whoosh_ as it parts the air on its way.

“Gold,” Nico croons happily when the arrow lodges into the central ring.

There is a sudden hush and several heads turn to look at the targets. Lewis comes forward, snaps the arrow out of the yellow circle and grumpily confirms Nico’s precision.

“There isn’t anything you can let me have, is there?”

Nico feigns innocence. “Oh, like what?”

“There was the unicycle, the juggling, the–”

“Okay, okay, that’s enough,” Nico interrupts him quickly. “What can I say, I’m a quick study.” _And I want to find a common ground with you._

Lewis doesn’t get to answer that because the door opens and Paddy strides to them in a direct line. “Lewis, Susie said you were back.”

“Hi Paddy,” Lewis says.

“So, how is the tracking?” Paddy asks, curious.

Lewis grimaces. “Not very accurate.”

“Ah. Gimme,” Paddy reaches his arm to Lewis. “I’ll think of something else.”

Lewis offers him the small lack device and adds a sympathetic pat on the engineer’s shoulder. “And the alarm didn’t start until I was already on my way to get Nico.”

“Bollocks,” Paddy mutters, snatching the device and briskly walking away.

Nico notes the fond expression on Lewis’ face and it twist something in his gut. “Lewis?”

Lewis turns to him, slings an affectionate arm around Nico’s shoulders and says, “Let’s go to my room, you sharpshooter.”

Lewis’ room is a small, barren space. There isn’t anything but two foldable chairs, a double bed squeezed between the wall and the wardrobe, and two empty bowls on the ground.

Two pairs of eyes glance up at them from the bed the moment Lewis and him step through the door.

Lewis kneels down to greet his dogs. There is a lot of tail waggling and slobbering but they don’t bark in excitement or jump all over the place.

Roscoe noses at his palm when Nico reaches to them, too. He pets the silky fur of Roscoe’s ears which earns him a happy snuffle.

Lewis kneels down to his holdall and gives each dog a treat for ‘waiting for him and not chewing through anything, unlike last time, Coco, I’m looking at you’. Then Lewis gestures for Nico to get his things out of the bag.

“I don’t think they’re letting you out here before you’re due for the press conference,” Lewis says.

Nico finds his phone and puts it on the chair next to the bed after checking it for new messages. He leaves the rest of his things in the bag. He hums. “Or before Toto finishes his wolf hunt. Whichever comes quicker.”

“My money would be on Toto,” Lewis snorts. “That dude can be intense.”

“Yeah. All that’s missing is a tooth necklace.”

They both laugh and Nico walks to the bed and sits down. “Lewis? Have you been doing this before you met Toto?”

Lewis looks up at him, still on the ground, petting his dogs. “Yes. I think I’ve been doing this since forever.”

“Ah, okay. So, how did it go, with Toto? You learned about him and came to him?”

“No, it wasn’t like that. I didn’t know about him or Susie or anyone else, actually. But we were in Shanghai in April–”

“In 2009?” Nico interrupts.

“Yeah, back then,” Lewis admits. “There were rumours about a longma sightings so of course I had to investigate. I run into Toto on my hike along the river banks. We were both in full gear and all. He nearly blasted my head off when I emerged from the bushes.”

“Oh my God,” Nico starts to say, appalled, but it breaks into a laugh. “He recognized you in time?”  
“He recognized me all right,” Lewis says and quick as a flash, he holds up a knife. It’s a very hefty trick, Nico thinks. Lewis lightly presses the blade down to his forearm, not breaking the skin, then the knife disappears into his robes as fast as it appeared. “He took me by surprise, too, you know? We both had to do a lot of explaining.” 

Nico can imagine that, quite vividly. He has to laugh again. “So, did you two find this longma?”

“Nah, that was a total bust, of course,” Lewis says with a shrug. “Maybe there’s something out there further up to the north, near Lanzhou. But not in Shanghai. I did find traces of a yinglong there one year, though. But that doesn’t surprise anyone, with all that rain.”

Nico tries to look like it doesn’t surprise him all that much either. “I see.” The achingly familiar need to be a part of Lewis’ life, the one he thought he had under control, soars up again. He's a lost case.

Lewis gets up from the ground and stretches. “I should probably report back to them and we need to talk about what we’ll do next. We don’t want to alert anyone in the city.”

“Sure.”

“It might take a while. Don’t wait up on me, okay? And don’t freak out if the dogs join you on the bed. I spoil them rotten.” Lewis sighs. “Tell them off if they bother you.”

“Okay,” Nico echoes. He lies down on the bed and pats his chest. Coco leaps at the invitation right away, Roscoe is a bit more cautious about getting onto the bed, but they both snuggle up to Nico in no time. Coco nuzzles in the hollow of Nico’s throat. “I don’t mind,” Nico laughs.

There is the soft smile on Lewis’ face again. “Good.”

“Lewis?” Nico calls out before Lewis can walk out. This time he’s going to say it. “Thank you.”

Lewis shakes his head. “It’s okay.”

Nico still remembers vividly how he was shaking on the roof and how Lewis calmed him down and he knows it’s not something he could just shrug off and say ‘it’s okay’. “Thank you,” he repeats, and hopes Lewis will get it.

Lewis switches off the light in the room. “Try to get some sleep,” he says as he closes the door behind him. Both dogs watch him go and Coco whines feebly but stops when Roscoe noses her side, not too gently.

The room is very dark. They’re in the underground and there are no windows and the air is a little to humid.

Nico isn’t sleepy. He pets both dogs as they lie curled to him, talking sweet nothings to them in quiet German.

Lewis returns probably about two hours later. He carefully opens the door, signals to the dogs to stay put and closes the door again, without turning on the lights. Maybe the light that comes through a gap beneath the door is enough for him.

Nico doesn’t know what tips Lewis off but it must be something, because Lewis says, barely above a whisper. “You’re not asleep?”

“No,” Nico murmurs.

Nico can’t fall asleep. It must be early morning, the sun is probably already up and Nico’s too full of new impressions to sleep. He slept early into the night and he doesn’t miss the hours Lewis and him spent running across the city.

There are soft footfalls approaching Nico’s side of the bed. “You okay?”

Nico turns to face Lewis and grins at him in the darkness. “Great. That’s been… something else.”

Lewis sits down at the edge of the bed. “Yeah, it can be a little overwhelming.”

“No, not at all.” Nico sits up so they can talk at the same eyelevel. It was maybe a bit frightening at first, before he knew what they were up against. But now that he knows, it’s not mysterious anymore. If Lewis can do it, so can he. “It was great. Interesting.”

Lewis chuckles. “I knew you could handle it.”

Nico thinks back to that moment when they were first on the roofs, the wind cold against his face, his own elevated heartbeat in his ears.

“Let me join you, then,” Nico says. “Teach me, train me. We can… we can work together, right?” He turns his pleading eyes to Lewis.

Lewis’ fingers are playing with a loose strand from Nico’s duvet and he’s quiet for a long moment. “Okay,” he says finally. “But Toto won’t be pleased.”

Nico flicks on the small bedside lamp and squints against the sudden light. “Even better.”

“I’m not gonna go easy on you,” Lewis warns.

Nico beams. “You never do.”

Lewis is looking at him with such intensity that it’s making Nico squirm. “Well, let’s go hunting,” Nico says.

“Not so fast,” Lewis says even as he gets up and offers Nico a hand. Nico accepts it and is pulled to his feet. “Training first.”

“There is a training room in there somewhere, right?”

Lewis nods, already moving to the door.

“Lead the way.”


End file.
